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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The building of La Défense du Midi, located at 42bis rue Alsace-Lorraine in Toulouse, was built between 1926 and 1932 by architect Léon Jaussely in an art deco style. Commanded to house the headquarters of the newspaper La Défense, he replaced the premises occupied since 1912. The building adopts a plan in L, with a facade on the Rue d'Alsace entirely covered with blue mosaics signed Gentil and Bourdet, representing a feminine allegory surrounded by the newspaper's sections. This facade, conceived as a showcase, deliberately breaks with the surrounding Haussmann aesthetic.

The facade on Rue Rivalz, made of coated concrete, has a dissymmetric composition with bays of various shapes, including a narrow span housing the staircase. The interior, organized around a commercial hall on the ground floor, includes windows for publications, a box at the junction of the wings, and on the floor, offices on the street side of Alsace as well as a function housing on the street side Rivalz. Concrete frame and decorative elements, such as interlaced D patterns, reflect the architectural innovation and graphic identity of the newspaper.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1997 for its facades and roofs, the building embodies the golden age of La Défêche du Midi, a major newspaper in the Occitanie region. Its unique mosaic décor and functional programme (offices, housing, commercial space) illustrate the adaptation of art deco to the needs of a modern press. The L plot, opening on two streets, allows a double entrance symbolizing the accessibility of information.

The architect Léon Jaussely, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, works with the Musaïsts Gentil and Bourdet, students of Victor Laloux, to create a strong visual identity. The building permit was issued in 1926, marking the beginning of an ambitious construction project that ended in 1932. The building, a private property, remains an architectural testimony of Toulouse's cultural and media dynamism in the inter-war period.

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